


Those Three Words

by sabers



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Friends to Lovers, Lovers to Friends, M/M, Platonic Cuddling, Slow Burn, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, Trans Shiro (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-29 06:47:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15067493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabers/pseuds/sabers
Summary: Keith and Pidge have just started college hundreds of miles away from home. Keith expects a clean slate, but his plans get flipped around when people from his childhood and back home begin to reenter his life. How will Keith’s college experience change now that these people have become reintegrated into his life?





	Those Three Words

**Author's Note:**

> so i expect this to be a REALLY long fic about keith’s first year (or two) in college and his experiences when shiro and lance reenter his life as possible love interests... oooooo

Keith wanders through a crowd of people, a cautious hand on his bag. He often finds himself distracted by reading the signs of the subway, having already found his platform but still finding ways to bide his time. He leans against a pillar, finally pulling out his phone to check his social media.

Leaning against the other side of the pillar was Pidge, Keith’s childhood friend and roommate. Sharing an apartment was her idea; she figured that if they were going to the same college, they should room together. The two of them had just finished the one class they shared, a general engineering class all engineer majors had to take, and were taking the subway back to their apartment. The two look up from their phone, their eyes following the approaching train. They center the weight of their bags and walk onto the subway train, leaning a bit when the train accelerates.

Keith’s first day of college was alright, he guessed. It felt like the academy again, except his classes were spread out and the lecture halls were huge. It felt so flimsy in schedule that he even missed the Garrison a bit. His train of thought is interrupted by a small nudge by Pidge. He looks down at her curiously, her hand on his lower arm.

“You alright? It’s pretty crowded,” Pidge murmurs, a genuine expression of worry on her face. Keith smiles and stands closer to her. The train was a bit crowded, and while it made the air feel uncomfortably heavy, Keith noted that the train wasn’t nearly as packed as it could be, and it was bearable at least. Keith nods and looks back up, the sound of the subway whooshing through the tunnel in his ears.

——-

Keith and Pidge nearly stumble into the apartment, Pidge immediately tossing her bag to the side (gently, as not to damage her laptop) and plopping down onto the couch. Pidge pats the couch next to her, inviting Keith to join her. Keith chuckles and sets his bag down gently next to Pidge’s, before walking into the open kitchen. 

“I’m hungry, Pidge,” he says frankly but friendly as well, opening the fridge and pulling out a to-go container of fried rice and orange chicken. They were leftovers from the nice Chinese restaurant they visited to celebrate their arrival at college. Keith places the box into the microwave and punches a few numbers into the microwave before pressing start. Pidge groans and rolls over on the couch.

“Keeeeeeeith,” Pidge wails, her voice muffled as her face was buried in the cushions. “It’s syllabus week, we won’t have a lot of time to hang out after thisssss.” Keith chuckles at Pidge’s pleas, opening the microwave before it beeped and pulling out his food. He walks over to the silverware drawer and pulls out a pair of chopsticks. Pidge sits up and peers over the back of the couch. “Make me some popcorn and get over hereeeeee.”

“Fiiiiine,” Keith teases, setting his food down on the counter and pulling out a bag of popcorn. He opens and throws the bag into the microwave, hitting the popcorn button instead of a time. Keith stands by the microwave and waits for the popcorn to stop popping before taking it out and bringing it to the couch along with his food. Pidge looks over her shoulder and lifts her arms behind her, making grabby hands for the popcorn. Keith smiles and places the popcorn in her hands, Pidge swinging her hands back in front of her and tearing open the bag. Keith sits himself down next to his friend on the couch, promptly digging into his food. Pidge lays her head against Keith’s shoulder, munching on popcorn loudly.

“Wanna continue _GoLion_ or play _Underwatch_?” Pidge asks, waiting until she was done talking to shove more popcorn into her mouth. Keith swallows his mouthful of chicken before responding.

“ _GoLion_ , I’m too tired to play _Underwatch_ ,” Keith admits, chomping down the rest of his food before setting the empty box down on the coffee table. Keith lays back against the couch, and Pidge takes this opportunity to situate herself against him, laying against the taller man. Keith sighs and allows a small smile to form, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

The two were just friends, but after a long time, they became physically comfortable enough to cuddle when watching TV or playing video games together. It was a nice way to bond and show their platonic affection. Even in public, they would hold hands and keep their arms wrapped around each other, so often that people would ask them if they were dating. It was never a secret pining thing; the two only saw each other as friends. That never stopped them from hanging out like this when they had the time.

Throughout the show, Keith stole Pidge’s popcorn, the two joked about the show’s awful dub and silly animation, and sometimes ignored the show to talk about whatever came to their minds. 

“Do you miss anyone from back home?” Pidge suddenly asks, snuggling a bit more into Keith’s arms. Keith is taken aback, but he seriously considers the question. Sure, he missed the routine of the Garrison, but he didn’t really miss the academy itself. But the people? Keith had always been a bit of a loner, so he only had a handful of friends, but he was really close to them. Even though he had a rocky past with a few of them, he appreciates them a lot. 

“Yeah, sure, I miss Hunk and Lance,” Keith responds, looking off to the side in thought. “Allura and Coran, too. They were all cool.” Allura and Coran had returned to their home country, having been studying abroad at the Garrison for their senior year. Hunk was going to college on the opposite side of the country to study electrical engineering, though he had promised to visit Keith and Pidge at some point soon. And Lance… what was Lance up to? Last Keith had heard, Lance was taking a gap year to road trip across the country. A journey of self-discovery or something, Lance said. _What a Lance thing to do,_ Keith thinks to himself. He turns his head over to look at Pidge.

“Yeah, me too,” Pidge says, her voice less lively as she responds. Keith sighs, rubbing her arm.

“You miss Matt?” Keith asks, hoping he wasn’t overstepping any boundaries by asking.

“Yeah, but we try to call every week,” Pidge responds, her eyes fixated on the action sequence on screen. It was a giant robot comprised of robot lions fighting an alien warlord… or something. It was so amusing to make fun of the show that sometimes Keith forgot to actually pay attention. “He’d joined the Air Force after his time at the Garrison, he’s a pilot now.”

“That’s good to hear,” Keith says, laying more into their embrace. He thinks a bit more about the others, wondering if he’d ever seen them again. Keith keeps the thought in the back of his mind as he continues to watch the anime in front of them.

Eventually, the two fell asleep with the flashing lights and sounds of _GoLion_ and the ambience of the city down below in the background. They hadn’t set an alarm.

———

Keith picks up a carton of milk from the large fridge shelf, putting it in his cart before heading off further into the aisle. He and Pidge decided to switch off on who bought groceries for the month, and Keith lost the rock-paper-scissors match and had to go first. Their budget was not the biggest, but Keith knows how to make it work well enough that they wouldn’t eat the same meals every day. He turns down an aisle and looks for some Japanese sauces, before spotting them and grabbing them. He continues this process to get everything he needs, and by the end of it he has tons of varieties of food in his cart. Ramen, udon, burritos, burgers, and many other foods nearly spill out of his cart. Finished, Keith walks over to one of the shorter lines, and then proceeds to wait.

He looks out past the exit into the parking lot, sighing to himself. He and Pidge were finishing up their first week of college, and he already had an overwhelming amount of work to do. His work for his one aerospace engineering major was so much, he didn’t know how Pidge was double majoring in mechanical engineering and computer science. He didn’t really question it, Pidge had always been smart, and he figures she could handle it on her own. Keith is next in line, and he walks over and starts loading his groceries onto the conveyor belt as the man behind the register begins scanning. Loading all of the food onto the belt took a lot of time, but it was over sooner than he had thought. He walks up to the register and preemptively takes out his debit card, not wanting to fumble for it later. A familiar voice comes from the cashier.

“You find everything okay?” Keith was taken aback by this, almost because it had sounded like… No, it couldn’t have been. He was back home, after that accident.

“Yeah,” Keith responds, keeping his head down to avoid eye contact. It was always worse one-on-one. _It’ll be over soon,_ he reminds himself, spinning the card in his hand. Again, he hears the voice, and he can’t help but finally look up.

“That’ll be $112.53. Cash or card?” the voice asked, a very memorable voice wrapped up in a customer service tone. Keith is surprised by who he sees, his eyes going wide.

“Shiro?”

**Author's Note:**

> i love platonic cuddling and strong friendships hell YES  
> if youre here for the sheith why not join my sheith discord server? link: discord.gg/ravy5SF  
> complaint box: retrosaber.tumblr.com


End file.
